


Recipe for an Angel

by tareacel



Category: Final Fantasy IX
Genre: Gen, backstory!, creation fic, genetic manipulation, scifantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-15
Updated: 2012-11-15
Packaged: 2017-11-18 17:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/563401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tareacel/pseuds/tareacel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Many years ago, Garland started work on his greatest creation.....</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recipe for an Angel

Garland stood at the huge, imposing master computer in his underground laboratory in Bran Bal. He was thinking; studying lines of code and genetic readings on the large screen. A small blond genome appeared at his side and asked him softly and politely if he required food or drink. At the negligent wave of his hand, the obedient creature was gone, and Garland was left standing in front of the computer again. It was time to put the finishing touches on his greatest and most important creation. He was making an Angel.

 

But how exactly to design it? Male, of course, even though technically female genomes were the equal to their male counterparts. Without souls, their bodies never entered into the Gaian phase of puberty and all of the mental and hormonal challenges that brought. But still, Garland thought, a male would be better, easier controlled. Besides, in Gaian myth and legend, Angels were all male anyway. He pressed a few buttons, isolated a length of genetic code, and changed a chromosome. X to Y. 

And the Angel would be a sorcerer. Much like the Angel of Death in Gaian legends, this little one would be able to rain down fire and sulfur. He must have a brain capacity to learn all that would be required of him. He must have an IQ that could accomplish the necessary skills. He must have the willpower to control great magic. Garland pressed more buttons, isolated more lengths of nucleic bonds, and made the necessary adjustments. With such great strength of will and mind would come physical weakness and a general petiteness, almost as if the Angel’s mind was draining power from his body to support itself. Garland made the adjustments dispassionately. He didn’t need this little one to have brute strength or an impressive frame.

 

And yet when it came to the more…aesthetic features…that the Angel would possess, Garland paused. How does one actually create…an Angel? Legend and myth report beings of great and terrible beauty, androgynous and fair, yet terrifying to behold. Garland laid his hands flat on the machine. Beautiful and frightening. 

Inspiration came to him in the form of the winged white dragons that dwelled on Terra. Dragons were beautiful to behold, surely, and they were also terrifying to be around, unless they were trained to obey you. The white dragons obeyed Garland, and so would this child. Terrible, deadly power and shining beauty, his to control and command. With the pictures of the dragons in his mind, Garland began to sculpt and paint the features of his Angel.

Skin of the palest porcelain shade, to mirror the white dragons’ virginal hide. Next, hair of shimmering silvery-lavender that would shine as if his Angel wore a halo. The white dragons had feathered wings, and after a moment’s pause, Garland added three soft, white feathers that would arch gracefully up from the sorcerer’s crown. Angels were also androgynous. Garland thought for the briefest of seconds about the build the sorcerer would have at maturity, and then his fingers were flying over the buttons and keys again. A small, fine aristocratic nose; a wide mouth with expressive lips; large eyes with long silvery lashes…the list went on. All genomes were made rather gender ambiguous in the first place, with slender builds and girlish hips. Garland, on his Angel, took it one step further. As the sorcerer grew and matured as he would, unlike all other genomes, his body would change in some of the same ways as a female. The curve and slope of his hips would flare dramatically to taper into thighs and legs that any mortal female down on Gaia would die with envy for. 

Finally, Garland was left with one more decision. One last touch. Every single genome had eyes the color of the blue light of Terra. It matched their golden blondes and gentle tans perfectly. But on his Angel…such a blue would look too ordinary…too plain. Garland dialed up the DNA sequence for eye color and paused, the cursor on the screen blinking and waiting for input. What color? Something that would set off everything else….that would add to the Angel’s exotic beauty, but still mark him as one of Garland’s creations. A darker blue. A deep, primal blue…blue like the oceans on Gaia. Blue like the gems they called sapphires or lapis lazuli. A sensual, mysterious blue.

 

Satisfied with the genotype and genetic map for his creation, all that was left now was to let it grow. All he had to do now was to set the genome program into motion. But as he moved to press that button, a deep, chilling sense of foreboding ran through his body. In that moment, he knew that this one, this Angel might not obey him. He’d not had a genome defy him yet, but there was always a first time. The little mage would have a quick mind and boundless curiosity. As he grew, his intellect and willpower could turn him treacherous and willful. That would not do. As dispassionately as he did everything else, Garland went back inside the program and pulled up a miniscule and, on the whole, very innocent piece of genetic data. He tweaked one bond. There. The Angel’s life now belonged to him. Now, he could start the program running and the special new genome would be created in a matter of days. After he was created, aged to the age when all genomes were “born”, and retrieved from the large, prepared tube set in the wall and filled with blue viscous liquid, the final step could be made, and Garland would go to Gaia to gather enough Mist to make up a soul.

And then, the Angel would be awakened.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first part of a massive story arc about Kuja's life before FFXI.
> 
> I do not own Final Fantasy, Garland, the genomes, or Kuja. They are all copyrighted to Square, and I am making no money! (Seriously. No money. )


End file.
